In New World there are many weapons to choose from, the Sword and Shield is one of them. This page will help you choose the best Skills, Perks, Armor Type, as well as a detailed guide on how to play it effectively.
Attributes¶
Attribute choices for this build.
A simple use of your Attributes while levelling, you’ll want to focus all of your points into Constitution so you can activate as many of the Perks as possible.
| Points | Perk |
|---|---|
| 50 | All health consumables +20% stronger. +10% logging speed. |
| 100 | Increase max health by 10% of physical armor. 10% reduction on durability loss for tools. |
| 150 | 10% reduction to crit damage taken. 10% decrease in weight of logging items. |
| 200 | 20% increase to armor. +10% logging speed. |
| 250 | 80% damage reduction when full health. +10% yield increase when logging. |
| 300 | 20% duration of stun, slow, and root spells. -25% chance to chop down a tree in a single swing. |
The whole purpose of this build is pure survivability using your Sword and Shield to really soak up the damage. With that in mind, you’ll be aiming for 300 Constitution/200 Strength, and you’ll be working towards that goal with all of your Attribute points going into Con while leveling. This will aid you in Expeditions as you make your way through the levels to reach 60. You should be favoring gear that increases both Strength and Constitution but when needing to make a choice, go for Strength to make up for the lack of Attribute points going into it.
Sword and Shield - Main¶
Sword and Shield Build.
Skills¶
| Icon | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
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Shield Rush | Rush forward 5 meters knocking back foes and dealing 125% weapon damage. |
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Shield Bash | Deals 50% weapon damage and stuns foes in front of you for 2s. Taunt Gem Compatible: If you have a Carnelian gem equipped in your sword, This ability cause a 6s taunt to all enemies hit. (Taunt causes monsters to focus only on you.) |
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Defiant Stance | For 8s, reduce the incoming base damage from attackers by 30%. Taunt Gem Compatible: If you have a Carnelian gem equipped in your sword, This ability cause an 6s taunt to all enemies within 8m. (Taunt causes monsters to focus only on you.) |
Sword and Shield is the only weapon in the game to feature more than one Taunt Skill. You’ll want to ensure you have Carnelian Gems slotted into your weapons to activate Taunt and always go for the highest Tier available.
Shield Rush is useful for closing the gap on your foe while also adding both Slow and Weaken to the enemies around you once the Perks below are purchased. Shield Bash is the first of your Taunt skills and will apply a Stun on any enemies caught by it, this will hit multiple targets if they’re bunched up. Finally, Defiant Stance is your second Taunt Skill that will taunt all the enemies around you while also increasing your defense massively. To make this even stronger, you’ll restore 15% of your health whenever Defiant Stance ends.
Defender Tree Perks¶
| Icon | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
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Sturdy Shield | Grants an additional 15% physical armor. |
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Sturdy Grip | Stamina damage is reduced by 15% when blocking a melee attack with a shield. |
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Elemental Resistance | Reduce damage from all magical types by 10%. |
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Defensive Training | When you block an attack gain 10% Fortify for 5s. |
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Intimidating Bash | Shield bash causes greatly increase threat and 100% more damage. |
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One with the Shield | When you block with a shield all shield skills recharge 1%. |
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Improved Rush | On successful hit all enemies within 5m gain 10% Weaken for 4s. (Weaken reduces damage.) |
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Intimidating Rush | On successful hit all enemies within 5m of you are 30% Slowed for 4s. (Slow reduces movement speed.) |
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Final Blow | The 3rd attack in your light attack deals 15% more damage and cause more threat. |
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Final Count Down | If your health is above 50%: damage reduction increased by 20%. |
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Restoration | Gain 15% of your max health when Defiant Stance ends. |
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Recuperation | All incoming healing and regeneration increased by 10%. |
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Defensive Formation | While blocking reduce damage to all allies within 2 meters by 30%. (1s cooldown). |
The Perks here will add useful modifiers to your Skills such as adding Weaken or Slow to their effects. Final Blow is excellent for allowing you to keep your Threat up with Light Attacks while Defensive Formation will be a useful buff for groups and PvP.
Swordmaster Tree Perks¶
| Icon | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
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Achilles Heel | The final attack in your light attack chain causes a 20% Slow for 2s. (Slow reduces movement speed.) |
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Precision | Swords critical strike chance increased by 10%. |
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Mobility | Move 33% faster while blocking. |
You’ll only take a few Perks in this tree but seeing as you’ll be using mainly Light Attacks for Threat, Achilles Heel will make them even more useful. You’ll spend a lot of time blocking with your Shield in this build and Mobility will increase your movement speed during that stance.
Warhammer - Secondary¶
Warhammer Build.
Skills¶
| Icon | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
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Clear Out | A wide swing that knocks enemies back 4 meters to create distance, deals 115% weapon damage. |
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Shockwave | Slam the Hammer into the ground causing a 3 meter radius AOE earthquake that deals 80% weapon damage. Applies Stun to all impacted targets for 2 Seconds. Taunt Gem Compatible: If you have a Carnelian gem equipped in your war hammer, this ability cause a 6s taunts when it hits. (Taunt causes monsters to focus only on you.) |
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Path of Destiny | A powerful ground strike that erupts a linear wave of energy in front of the player, dealing 110% weapon damage to all targets in its path. |
The Warhammer is an excellent secondary weapon with useful Crowd Control Skills that will also restore your HP. There’s only one Taunt Skill here, Shockwave, but it’s AOE and will stun all your foes caught in it. Clear Out is useful for knocking enemies down (in PvE) or away from capture points (PvP War) while Path of Destiny is a linear attack that will stagger all foes in its path while also reducing your cooldowns. In expeditions, you should be alternating between the Sword and Shield and the Warhammer based on what Taunt Skills are off cooldown.
Crowd Crusher Tree Perks¶
| Icon | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
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Outnumbered | Increase damage absorption by 10% if surrounded by 2 or more enemies within 3 meters of player. |
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I Can Do This All Day | Reduce Stamina consumption by -30% when Blocking Melee Attacks. |
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Power Cleaner | Hitting a target with Clear Out grants Fortify, providing a 10% defense bonus for 4 seconds to all friendlies within 6 meters. |
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Guarded Sprint | Reduce damage taken by 10% while sprinting. |
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Frailty | The trauma of the attack causes Weaken, decreasing the damage dealt from the target’s attacks by 10% for 10 seconds. |
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Meteoric Crater | Expands the effective range of the Shockwave to a 4 meter radius. |
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Concussive Impact | +15% damage against targets affected by Warhammer Debuffs. |
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Prevailing Spirit | Regain 35% of damage dealt as Health when using a Crowd Crusher ability. |
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Seismic Waves | Path of Destiny now staggers all targets in its path. |
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Stimulated Reduction | Ability cooldown reduced by 5% for each enemy hit with Path of Destiny. |
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Aftershock | Whenever a target is affected by a Crowd Control effect, they are slowed by 20% for 4 Seconds. |
As a Tank, it’s a given that you’re going to be surrounded by lots of enemies once you’ve used Taunt Skills, Outnumbered will increase your damage absorption here. Clear Out becomes more useful with Power Cleaner by granting the Fortify Buff to your party while Prevailing Spirit is an incredible Perk that will restore 35% of damage dealt as health whenever you use any of your three Skills. Aftershock is the cherry on top, adding a Slow effect to your Skills, making it handy for PvP.
Juggernaut Tree Perks¶
| Icon | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
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Hammer Time | Gain Empower on a Heavy Attack, increasing attack damage by 20% for 4 seconds. |
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Hardened Steel | Adds Grit to Hammer Heavy Attacks, and grants a 20% damage reduction while the Heavy attack Grit is active. (Grit is an added stagger resistance that stops attacks from being interrupted by reactions) |
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Contemption | On targets under 30% HP: Increase damage done by Heavy Attacks by 15%. |
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Quick Recovery | Cooldowns are reduced by 7% with Heavy attacks. |
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Power Through Pain | For 1 second after taking damage, deal 35% extra damage. |
The Perks here all serve to buff the damage and effects when using the Heavy Attack for the Warhammer. You’ll gain Empower, Grit and reduce your cooldowns making Heavy Attacks very important when dealing damage.
Armor¶
Armor in New World has three weight classes, light, medium, heavy. You’ll get different bonuses for each weight class.
| Weight | Bonus | How to achieve |
|---|---|---|
| Light | +20% bonus damage | Under 13 kg Equip Load (found next to your equipped weapons in the inventory screen) |
| Medium | +10% bonus damage, +10% crowd control debuffs last longer | Over 13 kg, Under 23kg Equip Load |
| Heavy | +15% Block Stability, +20 % crowd control debuffs last longer | Over 23 kg Equip Load |
As mentioned above, survivability is the goal here so Heavy Armor is the armor choice for this build for the 15% increase to stability on your block and allow your crowd control debuffs last an extra 20% longer. You’ll always be up in the face of the enemy, be it PvP or PvE so you’ll need all the armor resistance you can get while also slotting Gems for elemental or physical resistance based on the task at hand. For PvP especially, you’ll want any Gems that increase Fire and Ice Absorption as they’re the bane of any Tank.
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